Contacts

Samsung's TouchWiz interface has always done a pretty good job of managing contacts and that continues with the Galaxy Note 3.

All your best buds, colleagues, vague acquaintances and doting family members can be found in the Contacts app, which has the same design as previous TouchWiz incarnations.

You can sign in to all manner of accounts from email to social networks and the Galaxy Note 3 will pull contacts from all sources into one contact list, doing its best to match people up with their various profiles.

The Galaxy Note 3 will pull through profile pictures from the likes of Facebook and Google+ (there's no Twitter tie-in though) to brighten up your contact list, and it also shows you which accounts have been linked to each person by the way of little icons next to their name.

This makes it easy to check that your buddies are linked up to all their various accounts, or if some manual joining is required.

There will be some manual linking that needs to take place if you want your contact list in ship shape condition, especially is your friends use different names on their social accounts. This is easy to do, just tap on the contact you want to join and hit the chain icon to select the accounts to link together.

If you're blessed with a lengthy list of contacts you can quickly jump to the person you wish to speak to by typing in their name in the search bar, or by sliding your finger down the right hand side of the Note 3 display to jump to a particular lettered section.

You can directly call or text someone from the contacts list without having to tap through to their card - a simple swipe across their name from left to right will jump you straight into the dialer, while moving your finger in the opposite direction will see you transported to the new text message screen.

This is a feature which has long been a staple in Samsung's TouchWiz interface and although it's simple we always find it incredibly useful.

Tap through to a particular person's contact card and you'll see all the contact information the Galaxy Note 3 has managed to pull in for them from the various networks you've signed into.

A swipe sideways with a finger will see these details replace by a stream of that person's social media updates - allowing you to find out what they've been up to without launching a separate application.

You can star contacts to mark them as a favourite, and you'll see that they will also be displayed under the "Favorites" tab in the contact app, letting you get to the people you contact most regularly faster.

Adding a new contact is simple, just hit the plus button at the top of your contact list and you'll be shown a form where you can enter all the vital details on your new found friend.

Calling

Unsurprisingly your main port of call when it comes to physically speaking to someone is the Phone application on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

There's nothing really new within the application, with the dialler being the default screen displayed when you open it up.

Smart dialing is enabled on the Galaxy Note 3, meaning the phone will offer up contact suggestions as you start typing in a number, plus it will also recognize names - e.g "323" is seen as Dad.

If you want to call someone back quickly tap the "logs" tab at the top of the screen and you'll be able to view a list of your most recent communications - both texts and calls - and with a swipe left to right you can call them immediately.

The favorites we mentioned in the contacts section are also available in the Phone app, allowing you once again to easily reach the people you speak to or message the most.

Lastly there's a link to the Contacts app, if you realize the person you wish to speak to is not one of your favorites and hasn't been in contact recently.

We found call quality on the Galaxy Note 3 to be very good, with crisp clear audio on both ends of the line, even when we were in nosier surroundings.

Calls made and received with the Galaxy Gear smartwatch however were less impressive, with the person on the other end complaining about the poor audio quality.

The Galaxy Note 3 also did a good job of holding onto signal and we didn't experience any connection issues or dropped calls during our review period.

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 adds delight to daily tasks and infuses innovative features that help consumers tell the story of their lives. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 delivers a larger and better screen for the best viewing experience and more powerful multitasking, as well as significant S Pen improvements that make everyday life easier and faster.

Balancing Strength with Design The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 delivers a new premium look and feel. Expanding on the modern Samsung Galaxy design approach, Samsung Galaxy Note 3 adds a soft and textured-touch back cover and delicate stitching. It also features a serration pattern on the side of the device that evokes a connection to the timeless and enduring strengths of classic notebooks and planners.

Click S Pen to make life easier, faster and more exciting The new S Pen reinvents and modernises the classic note-taking experience by providing the ability to accomplish everyday tasks with just one click. The advanced S Pen is designed to be fully functional as a communication driver between the phone and the user by creating essential input and control features. It plays an integral role in how users interface with the device, making all daily routines easier.

A simple click of the S Pen button while hovering over the screen introduces users to Air Command, a palette of five powerful features that truly make tasks easier and faster. With the Air Command feature, there is no need to toggle between screens, memorise commands or look up different menus. The Air Command feature provides access to the following key functions:

Action Memo allows users to handwrite a note and automatically execute a function or convert that handwritten information into formatted content. Action Memo can instantly initiate a call, add to contacts, look up an address on a map, search the web, save a task to a to-do list, and more

Scrapbook enables users to organise or track down content and information from various sources including the web, YouTube and Gallery in one place so that users can easily look back at collected content all at once. When consumers save content for future use, Scrapbook also collects source material or URLs allowing them to easily refer back to the original source

The Screen Write feature captures the full screen image of the current page on the device and allows users to write comments or additional information onto the captured image

S Finder allows users to expansively search for content on their device regardless of the type. By putting in keywords or filters such as date, location and content type, users can search related documents, events, communication threads, and even the Help page - all in one place. In addition, users can also search for hand-written content in their Notes and memo applications, as well as symbols and formulas